


Instructions For Confrontations

by Ren (mizdarknezz3)



Series: Elena Taski's Stories [4]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst, Gen, Hurt No Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-23
Updated: 2020-09-23
Packaged: 2021-03-07 16:13:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26620459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mizdarknezz3/pseuds/Ren
Summary: Elena confronts Zuko about why he left her.
Series: Elena Taski's Stories [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1927720





	Instructions For Confrontations

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This was an exercise I did for my creative writing class. It was an idea for a scene in The Taski Way, but has since been thrown out, so I thought I'd post it here. Hope you enjoy!

First of all, you must locate The Prince. You can’t tell him anything if he’s not around. As you search in all the normal places, his room, by the ravine, and his camp, your mind wanders to the past. How you never would have done this before, how bad your parents would have punished you for the initial  _ thought _ . You locate him sitting on the fountain, alone. The wind pushing the leaves and water create the only noise. You must get him to notice your presence. His scarred eye is facing towards you, so despite all your colors on the bland wall behind you, he won’t notice. To draw his attention you take loud, sloppy steps. The sound makes you cringe as you force yourself to break every rule of walking they taught you. Do not freeze when his head snaps towards you, instead correct your walking and smile at him. His golden eyes follow you for a moment, before he makes room next to him on the fountains edge. His clothes match yours in color and reflect in the water. You attempt to not compare the picture to the memory of  _ that night _ . You fail.

The sun is hidden behind clouds, casting shadows on the wall from the crumbling pillars. Despite the peaceful scene both of you are tense. He refuses to make eye contact and his fists are clenched so tightly they have lost what little color they had. Start the conversation with a pleasant neutral topic, you ask how his breakfast was. You didn’t eat anything which was a known unhealthy habit of yours. He mumbled that he didn’t have anything while keeping his eyes trained on the beige stone floor. His eyebrows scrunched up but you continue trying to get his participation in conversing. You ask if he’s trained today. You have, you worked with swords and arrows early in the morning, later the boomerang once Sokka had woken up. After this you planned on practicing firebending for hours, and even more late at night. When he answered this time it was clearer and while he still refused to look at you, he spoke over ten words. Proving he was willing to talk. It is finally time to cut the tension and ask the question.

“Why did you leave me?” You say it quietly, not looking at him. Do not look angry, do not yell, and do not under any circumstances cry. You can see out of your peripheral vision that he’s looking at you, examining your face like the law looks at a criminal. Once he noticed your eyes he looked away. By the time he responded his arms were twitching, while his fingers tapped randomly. Do not let him play dumb, add details to force him to face it.

“Why did you leave me on the ship? After the North Pole when we docked you told me you’d be back in five days,” you say, and when he looks ready to deny it throw in a further guilt trip. Sound sad, never mad, that makes him defensive. “I waited for a month alone before abandoning everything we did, just to find you.” You remember the cold, the worry of his death, the return of comfortless nightmares, and the beginning of feeling empty inside. You swallow, throat suddenly dry, and look at the Prince. The confrontation had begun but had not gotten any results yet.

“Commander… I’m sorry,” he stopped there not providing an actual reason. He used your discarded title as well. Once again he turned away. You must push a little harder, but not too much. Coax him into full sentences. Slowly, taking his hand to grab his attention, you stare right where his eyes will land.

“Zuko, that’s not an answer,” with your parental feeling push and the physical contact he finally looks you in the eye, but they’re not your focus. He has taken your other hand and is gripping it like he’ll fall without it. His throat is moving as if pushing up the words you’ve been waiting months to hear.

“Once I found my Uncle, he was the only thing on my mind,” now he’s giving you answers. The confrontation was almost over. Although you couldn’t personally understand how he could completely forget the only person he’d seen in the last month waiting for him on a large stolen boat.

“How soon did you find him,” ask questions that would satisfy curiosity and make him more comfortable. His shoulders fell.

“After two days,” you can’t help but to memorize the way he said that. His voice was only a whisper, higher from some type of strain. Shadows cover his eyes hiding their state. You ignore the sharp pain in your heart, and the way your heart beat has taken over every other sound around you. You nod your head at his further apologies and the awkward way he let’s go of your hand to lie about why he has to go. You only cry once you are in your room alone. 

You’ve had a successful confrontation. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading I hope you enjoyed! Let me know what you thought below, I'd love to hear it :3 Have a great day!


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